Authenticity and Fanboy Mimicry

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Copy & Copying

Why does anyone care? What value are you providing? Are you giving more than you are taking? Have you presented the customer problem first so the user is agitated to the point of purchase? Have you effectively manipulated the reader into paying attention past the first line of text?

These and other questions are the types we are encouraged and often commanded to ask ourselves as creators on the internet. Generally, the advice comes from another creator who has "made it."

The question is: How does one burst the lining of the internet income stream's sacred yolk and release themselves into the eternal stream of valuable information (and reap cash money) forever more—never to return to their earthly and primitive roots?

Most advice coming from men who have not yet reached the age of 30—expect tremendous testosterone and enthusiasm for boldness (at least bold by the measure of this demographic).

Inside incubators for those seeking wealth by creating "value" online, you will find hundreds of worker bees emulating the queen bee, or in our case, the king bee's every move. From the font, color, hairstyle, and profile photo to the very words used to convey their chosen (emulated) form of online value, they imitate and check in with their brethren, "Is this tweet solid, bro?" and like a call and response song, another worker bee responds “LFG” ¹ .

Then there are the timid groups that swing so far in the direction of helplessness they will likely be paying for advice from "experts" for the remainder of their days. Timid and scared of taking any risk not sanctioned by a so-called expert, the timid seeker tosses her stone into the online sea, only to turn and run for fear of being splashed by a drop of water. She never notices the ripples her efforts have on the water she has entered because she never gave herself a chance.

For one reason or another, we need permission to begin.

A Dubious Value Proposition

This year of searching for my own "reason to be" has seen its share of paid "experts" claiming to know the answer to finding one's personal road to Awe. Guess what I have finally realized? No one has this answer.

No, not the confident-looking 30-year-old with the millions of 20-year-olds copying every word and style choice in hopes they will catch the light of their esteemed role model's sunshine.

Perhaps they will be one of the chosen ones elected to manage their brave hero's online community, or their hero will shine the light of their giant social media account on their lesser account, thus elevating them to the level of…. Of what???

After seeing enough of this nonsensical fanboy behavior and additionally being subjected to what in any professional setting would result in more than one call to HR, I decided I could not climb up a pile of someone else's vision of success to carve a little section of the heap to call my own.

Why leave a job that pays amazingly well to create and guard an intellectual dung heap copied from another "creator," simultaneously guarding their heap somewhere left of the last outpost of the internet?

For many hopeful content creators and "coaches" online, the vision of success is not comparable to anything in the "real" world because many participants in this game have not been in the real world long enough to have any perspective on the matter.

Initially impressed by the 15-year-old who attended a Twitter Space I recently held (a test of the utility of this feature, the result as yet undetermined), I listened as this young and highly intelligent person discussed the pointlessness of formal education in favor of online business building. The education this young man was receiving was boring, but the online world held every potential and was anything besides dull.

Building a business online is becoming a popular career choice for many people who have never worked a traditional job. These people teach other people who have never held a job how to build businesses. Other high-demand flavors are businesses built around quitting the 9-5 to become an online coach or businesses designed to help others leave their 9-5.

Why Bother?

I don't have an MBA, but a business needs a value proposition. A value proposition can be entertainment or solve a problem in a myriad of ways. However, value is not created by being a business that exists solely to get other people to quit their jobs to do the same thing you are doing.

Some negative productivity equation must come into play here.

In truth, that 15-year-old impresses me as to all of the young people, and not so young, who decide to be renegades and put themselves, not just their hats, into the ring and fight for a piece of the infinite game to call his or her own. Equally, formal education has yet to live up to its promise and is far too inaccessible to most to be a standard we can count on to reliably elevate the status of human beings.

The trouble always comes back to profiteering. Your "why" cannot be to get rich.

Simon Sinek wrote Start With Why and delivered a TED talk on the same idea. Give it a watch if you don't have time or interest in the book. Simon launched his career around the simple idea of finding your purpose.

The cornerstone of purpose is what keeps you going when you are not getting paid, receiving feedback, seeing traffic to your website, only opening rejection letters while waiting for an indicator to keep you on track, and the only thing that will keep you sane when every external benchmark is saying you are toast.

This is why your WHY cannot be money.

Smart Doesn’t Equal Good

On the road to why, I have found out that some of my renegade heroes in the creator space are kind of lame human beings.

Recently, I attended a so-called "masterclass" on copywriting from a writer who has amassed a following across platforms and has honestly made his way through the jungle of online content creation. Before I ever considered my venture, I read his tips on leading a productive life, clarifying your focus, and improving your mindset. Many excellent articles by this author have been internalized since reading them on Medium years ago.

For those not in the know, the online masterclass is often nothing more than a couple of dudes with outsized egos, large social media accounts, and a webinar platform.

On this recent occasion, with a (former) thought leader and his wingman as hosts, I witnessed the strangest and meanest sales pitch I could never have conceived of.

For over an hour, the host berated and mocked every writing sample submitted by the audience with no constructive purpose in sight. I have experienced my share of feedback sessions, and one rule is paramount, criticize to improve. Though uncomfortable, feedback can and should be a generous act for both the giver and the receiver.

I assume the audience comprised other content creators and solopreneurs similar to myself. Nothing was generous about the onslaught of insults lobbed aimlessly at the masterclass attendees on this day. The intention of the hour and change of mockery was to obtain registrations for a writing course created by the esteemed hosts so engaged in destroying the egos and motivation of their attendees. The cost of the course for repairing one's broken ego is 499 dollars.

A cheap trick to make everyone think they need you and are actually broken without you and charge them money for the service.

This is another no-no-zone for me.

If I have to become a raging asshole to make it, I am not making that recipe.

With this awareness, boundaries are learned and drawn.

Wrestle With Your Idea Like A Florida-Man Wrestles an Alligator

Creativity is hard. Being an asshole is apparently relatively easy, and also, apparently, it is easy enough to contrive a scheme to get others to pay you for the service.

Having an idea means you actually put your neck on the line, you actually ship the work (to quote Seth Godin), you care about something, and hopefully, you make someone or something a little better for your effort.

You must plunge into the depths of your spirit, pain, ego, and tolerance-for-the-unknown to catch glimpses of your purpose.

The journey is marked by witnessing yourself in your worst and best moments, experiencing all of the self-doubt reserved for the beginning of anything difficult, all at once and every single day.

You must be okay with turning down the dial on everything that does not align with your mission, including things that keep ordinary people sane, like getting paid and having friends. All of this and more must be sacrificed (for at least a while) on the road to self-discovery and a purpose-built life.

Some talented creators reach a point when they have figured out part of the game, and the money begins working for them. At this point, they may or may not have a deep purpose for what they do, but their mix of skills and abilities has allowed them to have the freedom that comes with financial liquidity.

Perhaps it is at this moment when once-role-model creators choose to glide on the wind of what brought them to notoriety, only to nosedive into toxicity without the cushion of relevance to soften their landing.

To Live and Pursue a Creative Life

I don't know who said it, but there is a fantastic simple idea to remember: "I didn't come this far to only come this far."

Creativity is not going to make you finish that report faster, but it is the thing that will make you see that the report is pointless and should be a video instead.

Creativity is yelling at you when you are too bored by the data entry job that sucks your soul from your very eyeballs each day.

Creativity is how you design a presentation that everyone pays attention to because you tell them a story instead of selling them a thing.

Creativity is the expression of your spirit that caused you to improve the office anonymously by bringing in plants and soft lighting to counteract the oppressive fluorescent light and drab beige wall paint.

Creativity is the way you do your thing, and the more you learn to respect and lean into it, the more creativity can be the thing you do.

This is not the easy or direct route, but we aren't here for that, and we already know this is going to be hard. We aren't deterred by difficulty because we know why we are doing this. Keep going and keep doing it differently; if they don't understand you, keep going until you find your tribe who do. If you can't see the way forward, stop going until the daylight returns, it will.

Your story is the only one like it; don't change it to fit the mold of someone who thinks their story is the only one worth telling. We already have a world full of imitation; we need variety, spice, and color. Do not hide your unique design from the world.

When you make it into the bloodstream of influence, don't become an asshole.

In fact, be kind to both yourself and someone else while you are at it.

That is all for this episode. Thank you for reading, and let me know if you have feelings about this one. You can hit reply if you are reading this in your email (thank you for subscribing), and you can leave a comment if you are signed in on the website.

I would love to know how you feel about your own creativity. Let me know if you have a few moments, and don't be shy about leaving a comment!

Creative Explorations at TheTechMargin

This is just a preview of the project I am working on. The final version will go live in a few days and will incorporate facets of creativity and technology, demonstrating the message of TheTechMargin.

Leave a comment or drop me an email [email protected].

Until next time, let's keep pushing the boundaries of what it means to be balanced, creative, and fully human. Consider upgrading your subscription, your support keeps my content free and available without a paywall and keeps me from needing to look for a job!

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1  LFG - In modern parlance, this is an acronym used to excitedly encourage another, such as in an online group setting, to continue or to execute upon an idea. Spelled out, the acronym mean “Let’s F*cking Go!”.